Nepal Earthquake: 3rd Anniversary

Submitted by editor on Thu, 2018-04-26 11:25

Nepal Earthquake: 3rd Anniversary

News Release/ 23 April 2018

KATHMANDU - Three years after Nepal’s catastrophic earthquakes left nearly 9,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands of families homeless, the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), with support from Red Cross Red Crescent partners, has helped make substantial progress towards recovery.

With the help of shelter cash grants and technical support from the Nepal Red Cross and its Movement partners, nearly 7,000 families are building new, safer homes, of which 3,277 families have now finished construction. Thousands more are working towards completion, taking advantage of the dry season to get a proper roof over their heads.

The Red Cross Red Crescent has improved health care for communities in the affected districts. We have rebuilt and rehabilitated destroyed or damaged health facilities. A new district hospital is already in operation and 41 health posts being built, 18 of which have been completed and handed over to local health authorities. Support for health staff quarters and equipment ensures essential services are continued and sustainable.

“Working alongside the affected communities, we have achieved a lot of progress in the last year said Nepal Red Cross Chairman Sanjiv Thapa. “But it’s not all about ‘hardware’, because the focus is also about providing people with the awareness and information to improve their health and mitigate the risks of disease and future disaster.”

People’s lives - especially those of women - have been transformed by the completion of 147 new Red Cross-supported water systems, with another 56 nearing completion, bringing clean safe drinking water to village tap-stands. For thousands of people, some in remote, quake-hit areas this saves many hours a day once spent fetching water, which can now be used to grow vegetables or tend livestock, improving their economic situation, or to work on rebuilding their homes. New toilets are helping to make more and more villages free from open defecation which was once the norm in many areas. “All this progress shows the importance of addressing communities’ needs in an integrated way,” said Nepal Red Cross Secretary General Dev Ratna Dhakhwa.

After the earthquake devastated the livelihoods of families and communities, people in the worst-hit regions have benefited from livelihood support programmes. These have bolstered people’s resilience by enabling them for example to buy new livestock and start or expand small businesses. Many people have taken part in cash for work community projects such as irrigation canal schemes or clearing away earthquake debris, with close to 170,000 people receiving various forms of livelihoods support.

The Nepal Red Cross, which is the country’s biggest humanitarian organization, has helped communities across Nepal prepare for future disasters such as floods, which occurred in 2017. Three years after the earthquake, “the disaster response is now in transition to a sustainable, longer-term operation to work with communities to address their needs, continuing to listen to people’s voices and communicate with them and prioritise the needs of women and children and vulnerable groups, “says Juja Kim, Head of IFRC’s Country Office in Nepal.

Key Figures (as of 31 March 2018)

More than 206,000 people get water and sanitation services and hygiene promotion

39,183 people get access to water through 147 constructed/rehabilitated water schemes (data as at 15 April)

27,836 people get access to 5,600 household toilets constructed/rehabilitated (data as at 15 April)

139,366 people reached with hygiene promotion activities

More than 126,000 people reached with health services and health promotion